Artisan Raises $7.3 Seed Round To Launch AI Employee For Sales Teams

Artisan, a UK-founded company deploying human-like AI employees to replace the legacy GTM stack, has announced a $7.3 million Seed Round led by Oliver Jung, an early investor in Airbnb, Deel, and Revolut, with participation from Sequoia Scout, Y Combinator, Soma Capital, BOND Capital, Anu Hariharan, Paul Daversa, Fellow’s Fund, Mento VC, and more. Just six months after being accepted into Y Combinator with a team of three, Artisan has launched Version 2 of its platform, onboarded over 100 companies, and expanded its team to 13 employees.

At the center of Artisan's innovative drive is its 23-year-old Founder and CEO, Jaspar Carmichael-Jack. A serial entrepreneur and the middle child of seven, Jaspar began his entrepreneurial journey at just seven years old. Today, he is building what he envisions as the next industrial revolution.

The company has already achieved $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) within just three months, boasting over 120 customers, including Treatwell and Fondo.

• Their flagship AI employee, Ava, automates the entire bizdev workflow—from prospecting to nurturing leads up to the closing stage.
• While other companies build AI employees that still require constant human oversight—Artisans automate entire job workflows, acting as true team members—not just another tool. You can even ask Ava for updates on Slack like any other team member—she just never logs off.
• Artisan distinguishes itself by effectively addressing app sprawl. While many AI tools add to the complexity of sales operations, Artisan streamlines its processes.

Onboarding is remarkably quick. According to Y Combinator, “You onboard Ava with a 10-minute conversation, and using the inormation you give her and a scrape of your site, she can run an outbound email campaign. Ava has over 270M contacts and can send thousands of tailored emails to prospects on your behalf.”

“We are solving two major problems”

Jaspar identifies two major challenges Artisan addresses: Automation and Consolidation.

• Automation. The role of a Business Development Representative (BDR) is traditionally filled with manual tasks—building contact lists, verifying information, and updating CRMs. "No one wants to be a BDR, it’s seen as an entry-level position leading to account executive roles," Jaspar explains. While automation has been introduced, no technology has fully replicated human capabilities—until now.
• Consolidation. At Artisan, they cannot build on top of other legacy software products because the stack that people use is so fragmented that nothing works properly within the workflow. The company offers a consolidated platform that includes every necessary tool—from B2B data to email communications—integrating AI employees to automate various functions.

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1M in ARR in 3 months

As Jaspar mentions, “It’s such a strong need on a market for a product like this, the existing players in space don’t work that well, it has been very easy for us to sell.” He also mentioned that doing Y Combinator was also really helpful, specifically, in terms of brand awareness. “I think it’s their biggest value”.

AI agents will fail

At Artisan, they build Artisans—employees that are more human and capable of handling entire job functions, not agents. “In the long run, no one wants to work with cold, unfeeling agents. We want people to have the same relationships with Artisans as they do with other employees,” says the company’s Founder and CEO.

Being young is an advantage

Being a young founder makes the fundraising process easier, though hiring people who are "double your age" can be complicated. As of now, Jaspar is the youngest person in the company. The most important factor in building trust and motivating people is a company’s culture. “We hire for culture fit, we are passionate about building and mission-driven,” he emphasizes.

Fundraising Tips

• Creating FOMO is important.
• Building strong momentum. It involves brand awareness and having people come to you rather than chasing them.

Interestingly, the first check Jaspar received was from a cold LinkedIn message.

Another factor that distinguishes Artisan from other companies in the crowded market is its ambitious vision—to build a generational company. This vision truly resonates with investors. Being charismatic and confident also helps, as does Jaspar’s British accent.

Building the Future of Software

According to Pitchbook’s Enterprise SaaS Report, VC funding for the enterprise SaaS industry rebounded in Q2, with startups raising $21.9 billion across 713 deals—the highest quarterly deal value in over a year.

Starting with sales, Artisan is replacing and automating the entire GTM SaaS stack. As stated on their website:

“We launched our AI Sales Agent, Ava, in February 2023. She automates 80% of a BDR’s role and operates within our Artisan Sales platform, which consolidates dozens of outbound sales tools into a single platform. It’s also the only sales software that automates personalized email writing with dynamic email playbooks capable of emulating any style a human BDR would use. In the past few months, we’ve seen strong interest from large B2B SaaS companies ready to consolidate their complex, fragmented software stacks.”

Next in Artisan’s pipeline are Liam, the Marketing Artisan, and James, the Customer Success Artisan.

As the integration of AI into workplaces accelerates, Ava’s ability to automate a significant portion of the BDR role signifies a profound shift in work dynamics and the role of human employees in the digital economy.

As the work landscape evolves, Artisan is focused on raising its Series A and onboarding mid-market and enterprise companies, paving the way for a new era in business development.